Wellington Lions rugby players and Ricoh staff show off the rubbish they picked up during a beach clean-up at Island Bay (image: M. Barnett/DoC)

Conservation Week runs from 12-19 September with the theme Love New Zealand Arohaina i a Aotearoa. And the Keep New Zealand Beautiful National Clean Up Week starts tomorrow until 24 September. To mark both occasions, Alison Ballance headed to Island Bay on Wellington's South Coast to join a corporate beach clean-up organised by the Department of Conservation. Taking part were half a dozen players from the Wellington Lions Rugby team, and a group from Ricoh New Zealand. They were joined by the Friends of Taputeranga Marine Reserve - the marine reserve borders the beach and recently celebrated its second birthday. With gloves on and rubbish bags in hand, the volunteers scoured the beach and nearby roadside reserve for rubbish which ranged in size and frequency from cigarette butts (numerous) to a foam mattress (one).